Goose brooder ideas..

[Puddle Foot Farm]

Hey guys!

I'm planning on getting 10 cotton patch goslings this spring, and would like to start plans for a brooder for them as soon as possible, so it actually gets done! I'm tired of cardboard box brooders, and as we're finally taking the plunge into actually breeding geese, I decided we should have a proper brooder.

So, what do you all use as bedding and what are your structures like? We used hay before, but it was very hard to keep clean with just three or four geese, let alone ten! Also, what kind of waterers do you use? We had the milk jug waterers, but they geese still managed to soak their bedding.

Any advice would be much appreciated and welcome!

Thanks

 

[Soccer Mom]

Cotton patch are sooooooo cute!

Belllisamo has pics of a great brooder she built. The thread is in the Baby Chicks forum. I use shavings and cover them with paper towels. Paper towels are so easy to change out. They sure do make a LOT of poo.

 

[Puddle Foot Farm]

Quote:
I know! I'm so excited for them.

Not so much for their poop though. We're sending their deposit next week so we can book a date.. Getting them from the ultimate cotton patch breeder, Tom Walker. He's GREAT!

What kind of shavings do you use?

 

[3dogs]

I brooded 4 goslings in a small kiddie pool with shavings on the bottom. To prevent drafts, I wrapped an old shower curtain liner around low (28" high) wire fencing surrounding the pool. Food and water containers sat on overturned dog food dishes to raise them up a bit and keep little webbed feet out of them. I hung a heat lamp over them and beyond their reach.

On nice days I took them outside for at least an hour and put them in a fenced area that could be moved every day. By the time they were about 3 weeks old, my adult geese convinced me to let them adopt the goslings they had been watching with such interest! They prooved to be wonderful foster parents.

 

[Puddle Foot Farm]

3dogs - What kind of shavings?

 

[chseeads]

I used a galvanized cattle trough. Used pine shavings in it.

 

[3dogs]

I believe the shavings I used were pine. They came in a "bale" from the feedstore. The bale was actually shavings packed tightly into a huge brown paper bag.

As someone else mentioned, I also placed paper towels on top of the shavings for a couple of days so the goslings learned to eat appropriate food, and not the shavings. I also cut some tender young grass into small pieces and sprinkled it on their food and into their water.